I'm from Central/South Central Iowa and am as green as spring grass when it comes to lawn maintenance. Can somebody tell me if this sounds like a good program? I don't have the paper in front of me that says when they recommend putting each application down, and I think if I remember correctly one of them has a grub control in it.

I'm also wondering, is a liquid broadleaf/weed and feed better than granular? My father in law told he he just uses the Weed Be Gone that you hook up to the hose and spray your lawn with and that works pretty well for him. I'm sure there are professional Weed and Feeds that work better but I'm not sure what they are. Any sugguestions?

Also, I put down the Dimension on March 22nd, so a little over two weeks ago. How soon can/should I put down a broadleaf killer? I have a few dandilions(sp?) in my yard now that I'd like to get rid of, but don't want to burn my yard either.

Thanks in advance for any help given. Also, remember I'm a newb, so try and "dumb down" any terms as much as possible so I can understand what you're telling me!

It is a fairly good program for Iowa. Get your pesticie license. But I would use a late summer fert for late summer and put the last weed control in the fall, instead of "winterizer", which I would use in late summer or early fall.
Merit is not herbicide, but it is grub control.
I would spot spray any weeds present now. And do your main weed control in early summer--otherwise you have a big 8 week gap in summer with no weed control for clover and summer annuals.
Lockup is new this year. http://www.dowagro.com/turf/products...des/lockup.htm
Lockup works well as a dry product on wet weeds, not as good if the turf is dry. It only controls 25 kinds of weeds, Weed be Gone and Three-Way (which are similar) control about 250 kinds. And you are right, liquid weed control is more effective. I assume you have no liquid application equipment. Or perhaps only a backpack.

Lockup is a new product and it has a certain amount of root activity--take a lesson from last year with the Imprelis debacle--think carefully--use according to label exactly, and if possible let others try it out first. It works slow 2 to 4 weeks.

Thanks for the info Riggle. I'm not actually in the lawn care business, just learning how to take care of my personal lawn. So no, I don't have any kind of liquid application equipment. I did actually go to JDL this afternoon and I asked them about the graular herbicide(Step two and four) and it was on backstock, so the guy told me about the Three Way that I can use for spot spraying, so I got a gal. jug of that and a 1 gallon sprayer to spot spray my lawn. I may go back later and get the granular to use on my whole lawn to help prevent(I assume that would help prevent?) and continue spot spraying afterwards. Maybe somebody has a recommendation on what would be better, the granular or buying the Weed Be Gone? The guy at JDL did tell me a liquid is better as well because the granular relies on water of some sort(rain, sprinkler,etc.) to activate, whereas liquid obviously doesn't. So I'm thinking maybe just spray the whole yard with weed be gone and spot spray with the Three Way? Is that overkill, or would that be a decent solution/application?

Since 5 years ago, Weed B Gone has almost the same ingredients as Three-Way.
Just spray the whole yard with Three-way. Follow up with spot sprays of Three-way. Be sure to apply crabgrass control this week. (Dimension).
Three way again in October.

I'm from Central/South Central Iowa and am as green as spring grass when it comes to lawn maintenance. Can somebody tell me if this sounds like a good program? I don't have the paper in front of me that says when they recommend putting each application down, and I think if I remember correctly one of them has a grub control in it.

I'm also wondering, is a liquid broadleaf/weed and feed better than granular? My father in law told he he just uses the Weed Be Gone that you hook up to the hose and spray your lawn with and that works pretty well for him. I'm sure there are professional Weed and Feeds that work better but I'm not sure what they are. Any sugguestions?

Also, I put down the Dimension on March 22nd, so a little over two weeks ago. How soon can/should I put down a broadleaf killer? I have a few dandilions(sp?) in my yard now that I'd like to get rid of, but don't want to burn my yard either.

Thanks in advance for any help given. Also, remember I'm a newb, so try and "dumb down" any terms as much as possible so I can understand what you're telling me!

I have a serious problem with these 4 or 5 step granular programs like this or like Scott's.

If you use them for several years, then the lawn will probably look pretty good, but for a pro, there are much better ways.

First problem is that granular weed control is crap! Most granular weed controls have to stick to the weeds, which means the lawn must be wet. Well, it isnt going to rain right before you pull up to do each lawn every time! So the only time it will work well is right after a rain, or early on a dew drenched morning, say 7am?

Liquid weed control works much better! It should be applied on EVERY application, and most or all of the lawn should be sprayed on BOTH spring applications, then spot spraying on summer apps. Then significant coverage in early fall.

Also, 1 application of just .15 dimension isnt going to be adequate for ideal crabgrass control, and might not last into mid summer anyway. If you are going to do a single app of crabgrass control, use Barricade.